The Man With The Story
by MudbludGranger
Summary: The Doctor has lost Rose, it's Doomsday. A woman ambushes him outside his TARDIS and takes him to met a man who can get her back. While he waits a man tells him a story that should be impossible. And then The Doctor gets to tell Rose what he always wanted her to know. ((All non DW characters are mine. Hands off.))


He needed to get away somewhere. To clear his head. He couldn't think straight – not with her gone. He did the only thing that he could bother to think of, which was push the randomizer. He didn't care where he ended up; some place to die for all her cared right now.

The TARDIS shuddered to halt with its usual loud noises and he stepped out, not knowing, nor caring, what was outside the doors. But he cared as soon as he saw it – a girl. A young woman with hazel-brown eyes and long red curls. She was ginger. He wanted to be ginger, but he wasn't thinking about that at that moment.

'Doctor?' the female questioned.

'Yes, that's me,' replied The Doctor, not unkindly but not himself either. 'Who are you?'

'My name is Aimee Forté,' she told him swiftly. 'And my … my um … whatever you would call the idiot I go round with, is looking for you. So put this on.' She held a blindfold up.

'Why should I?' asked The Doctor.

'Because you might get to see Rose again.'

The Doctor didn't ask about how she knew about Rose. Frankly he did not care. He put the blind fold on and felt himself being dragged by the hand down a street. Then he knew he had entered somewhere, as the temperature grew warm.

'How much farther?' The Doctor asked.

'Not much,' replied Aimee. 'The group want to meet you, but then I'll take you to see the man himself.'

'The man himself?' The Doctor repeated, but got no answer.

Wherever he was, it was a very clean place. The air smelled fresh and outdoorsy, the floor was smooth and did not stick or creak. He seemed to go down several long corridors before he entered an even warmer room, and was pushed down into what could only be an armchair. His blindfold was then removed, and The Doctor blinked several times in confusion.

'Doctor, meet out group,' said Aimee.

There were several people around him.

A girl with jet black hair and emerald green eyes, about twenty years old. She was sat to the left of a young woman, probably around nineteen, with large, kind blue eyes and long blond hair. The woman's clothes, hair, nails and irises were sparkling. To the black-haired woman's right was a man, maybe about twenty three, twenty four, with brown hair that was quite messy at the front, and blue eyes. He was absently playing with a key ring, flicking a light on it on and off slowly.

A space away, three more people sat. Why did they always sit in threes? One was a ginger woman of about twenty six, with green eyes and a huge smile. To her right was a dark-skinned woman with surprisingly bright blue eyes, and long black hair. To the ginger's left was an incredibly handsome man, with light hair and amazing teeth.

Another trio on the other side of the room. An older-that-the-others looking woman, about thirty seven maybe, with blond hair and hazel eyes. On her left a dark skinned boy with dark hair, on her right yet another ginger, but this one was a man.

And yup, you guessed it, there was one more trio. Aimee had sat down and to her left was a man with black hair with dip-dyed blue tips, and grey eyes. To her right there was a woman about her age, with long red hair like Aimee's, yet she was surprisingly pale with soft golden eyes.

'Who are you people?' asked The Doctor.

Aimee introduced them all.

'There's Lily,' she pointed to the sparkling blond, 'And The Professor … or … one of them, the eleventh one or … one of the eleventh ones, and their daughter Ciara.'

How the black-haired woman was young enough to be their daughter, or they were old enough to be her parents, The Doctor couldn't figure out, but they didn't seem normal so it was … okay?

'Those three there,' she pointed at the trio with the ginger, the man and the dark-skinned woman, 'are Kristen, Zafrina and Major John.' She turned to the trio with the older blond woman. 'There's Joanna and Tony, Lily's parents, and Oisín, a family friend of theirs.' Finally, she pointed to the ginger beside her. 'This is my daughter, River.' Another impossible, but he let it slide. 'And my husband, Damian.'

'Lovely to meet you all …' The Doctor said, confused. 'Why am I meeting you though?'

'Because we've heard of you and wanted to meet you,' the girl called Lily said 'Another Professor wanted to meet you too but he couldn't make it.'

'Right,' said The Doctor.

They spent five wasteful and pointless minutes in that room, the group all giving The Doctor praise. He rolled his eyes internally. Aimee had mentioned Rose – why? He waited patiently for the point of it all, and finally it came, when Aimee (who seemed to be the leader) announced that it was time for the group to leave, and "The Professor" would be in in just a moment.

They left, and so a man entered.

The man was about twenty three. He had light blue eyes, a floppy side fringe, and was wearing a shirt, chinos and a bowyie. Odd, but acceptable.

'Hi,' the man said. 'I'm a Professor, my first name is Professor and so's my last. And you're The Doctor.'

'Yes,' said The Doctor. He went straight to the point. 'Aimee mentioned Rose.'

'Ah, yes,' this Professor man grinned. 'Yes, don't ask how but we know about her, and we know how to get to her.'

'Impossible,' said The Doctor. 'You cant get into that parallel universe.'

'_You _cant,' Professor said. 'But _I _can. I was there once, long ago. I lost someone there too. But I got her back. I got everyone I lost there back. I can do the same for you.'

'Who would you?'

'Because like you, I'm the last of my kind and I know what it is like to lose and be alone.'

The Doctor watched this man as he looked away, towards the mantle of the livingroom they were in. He waited, and wondered, until the man spoke again.

'I'm a Spaceprince. A species from another universe, and I am the last. I've surrounded myself with friends that will never die and have been with me throughout my many lives, and I want to give something back to the universe for that. Make another lonely traveler happy, and so I can get you your Rose back. If you want.'

'I want!' The Doctor said automatically.

'Then I'll be back I a tick!'

The man left and The Doctor sat in silence for a moment and thought, until the man he knew to be another Professor came in and sat across from him. Neither spoke for a moment, each lost in his own thoughts, The Doctor's head teeming with excitement, mistrust, and curiosity. He would have been content to keep thinking, turning things up un his mind, until this Professor spoke.

'I know how you feel,' he said.

'Hm?' The Doctor asked in question. Professor took it as an opening to tell his story.

'When I was my tenth self I met this woman,' he said. 'Amazing girl. We often used to get into tight spots, but then one was too tight. She risked her life to save me. I stopped her dying, but then I was to die. But then, I don't die, do I? I changed. That's what we do, my kind, change. Non-stop. But we had our fair few adventures after the change, too. Got closer. Then when everything seemed perfect, bang. The universe forced us apart. We were away from each other two years, where I caught up with an old friend, made two new ones, then we were re-united. But what happened? Old mother fate stepped in and set us off on another adventure. Seemed hopeless. Was for a bit. But then we actually got to the point where we could both survive, happy, fine, healthy. Then something stupid happened. She risked her life to stop it, but he dad popped back and saved her. But I couldn't get to her, she was in another world. Also, that day triggered the change. But I went forward, came to her as a hologram, and the universe allowed me to come through, just for a minute. I never got to say goodbye because I started changing so I had to run. But you know who that woman is? The one I could never see again after that?'

It took a minute to realize he had stopped talking, but finally he looked up and nodded for him to go on.

'Lily.'

The Doctor looked at him. Professor was grinning, probably knowing what The Doctor was thinking. _How? _But he didn't ask it out loud, there was someone at the door.

'Doctor?' a familiar voice said.

'Rose?'

The Doctor stood up and there she was, amazing as the day he'd left her, almost like she hadn't even aged. There was a loud laugh and they threw themselves into each other's arms.

'I'm sorry,' said The Doctor. 'I'm so, so sorry.'

'For what?' Rose asked from the depths of their tight, warm embrace.

'I didn't get to say goodbye.'

'I don't care. We're together now and that's all that matters.'

'It does matter though,' said The Doctor pulling back.

Both were feeling the exact same amount of happiness. Seeing each other again was like watching the very first sunrise from a tree on the edge of the Grand Canyon. But The Doctor had one thing he needed to say before he could do anything, lest he lose her again.

'Rose Tyler …' he spoke the way he had before his image had faded. But now he got to finish his sentence. 'I love you.'


End file.
